Sedating racoons

Home ranges averaged 111 ha (95% kernel estimate), much larger than previously reported for this species in Japan, and varied greatly among individuals (23–228 ha).

Home ranges were 62.5% larger in autumn than in other seasons, and 33.5% larger for subadults than for adults.

The satoyama is a mosaiclike landscape of forest and agriculture maintained through traditional use by people (K. Spatial scale is especially critical when considering space use in mosaic habitats (Mysterud and Ims 1998).

For example, at a coarse scale we might predict that home-range size will differ among home ranges characterized by different ratios of sato and yama landscape types; at a finer scale, we might predict that movement patterns will differ in their detailed geometry between these 2 broad types, or between their component parts.

Within their home ranges, the types showed preferences for the habitats that were most prevalent there.

This variability between populations emerged most characteristically within canid species (Macdonald 1979, 1981), and revealing case studies continue to emerge quantifying variation between canid populations in diverse aspects of their behavioral ecology (reviewed in Macdonald et al.Activity, as measured by the proportion of fixes designated active, tended to be lower in home ranges where cropland was predominant, and the magnitude of preference for cropland increased with its availability with the home range, suggesting a functional response to habitat availability.The fractal dimension of movement trails was more complex in seminatural areas than in agricultural land, possibly reflecting greater spatial regularity of agricultural habitat.Average movement rate tended to be higher in autumn (mean rate = 297 m/h), and lowest in winter (mean rate = 204 m/h).Within the population, some individuals occupied home ranges that were predominantly seminatural (we refer to these animals as “mountain type”), whereas those of others were dominated by heavily managed habitats (these we term “village type”).